Government Information Division pros: a diversity of roles second of two parts

The relatively of recent origin SLA Government Information Division (DGI) provides connections for information professionals who support rule institutions and for those outside the rule sector who use local, state, federal, and international management information to support their clients. Since it was established in October 2004 DGI has attracted nearly 200 members from all horizontals of government, from the private and nonprofit sectors, and from SLA chapters around the globe.

As a way of introducing the fresh division, we interviewed a handful of our earliest members, asking them about their work and their interests. These members include novel and seasoned practitioners whose careers involve respect research, records management, information technology, information center management, knowledge organization, and--as you will see--much more.

In the February Information watch we introduced you to Tom Rink. In this article, we not absent four others.

Olwyn Crutchley information resource middle manager, Department of Conservation, Wellington, novel Zealand

Olwyn Crutchley is single of a strong contingent of international members in the fresh Government Information Division. She manages the Information Resource midst (IRC) for New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC).

Supporting an agency whose mission she admires is a clear motivator for Crutchley The Conservation Department works to keep New Zealand's natural and historic heritage and to stop the decline of novel Zealand's indigenous biodiversity. The DOC races a network of national parks and keeps that comprise about a third of the land mass of fresh Zealand in what Crutchley describes as "some of the greatest in quantity unspoiled landscapes on the planet." Crutchley says "the staff of DOC has a certain quantity of of the most committed, enthusiastic tribe you could hope to suited and visiting our more far offices is always an interesting experience."

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The IRC provides library and records management services to the department, which has about 2000 staff located in above 100 offices throughout New Zealand, including a certain number of on the country's many offshore islands. Crutchley notes that the integrated library and records team is actual common in Australasia, and in novel Zealand government agencies in particular. Her team superintends records and document management, which she says is "challenging, as it combines a destiny of the knowledge you have from the library world (like cataloguing and classification) and applies it to another discipline (creating metadata constructions and functional classification schemas)." She adds, "People in the organization are always amazed that our collection finds this stuff interesting, on the other hand it is satisfying to create a whole s and processes that improve people's ability to use and share information--and that is the basis of our training."

Crutchley believes the information technology world has a doom to learn from our profession and, reciprocally, she maintains a fervid interest in IT. Her IRC team has accomplished a doom since it was formed six years ago, similar as creating digital image and video collections, providing services above the DOC intranet, and creating a single classification scheme for all the DOC's paper records.

Crutchley is a member of SLA's Australia and fresh Zealand Chapter, established in June 2004

Bonnie Spiers, outreach and information specialist, Information Services Branch, State Library of North Carolina, Raleigh, North Carolina

Bonnie Spiers be subservient tos as an Outreach Librarian with the North Carolina State Library, promoting library services and collections to state agency employee The State Library of North Carolina was seted in 1812. Spiers joined the state library just three years ago, after 10 years as an academic concern and electronic resources librarian. She provides respect and research and finds it is especially gratifying when she is "able to help a citizen or a state employee make an incision in through the bureaucracy and find the report they want or link together them with the right one in the right office."

Spiers says the results-oriented research is "a real change from the more general academic relation environment." The Information Services Branch clientele include state employee genealogists, historical researchers, and data users. The State Library is a depository for state documents and an affiliate of the North Carolina State Data Center They also have an extensive family and regional history collection.

The state library is beginning to digitize a certain number of of its collections. The libraries Access to State conduct Information Initiative aims to "develop recommendations and proof solutions that support the identification, collection, cataloging, storage, and preservation of state management information and statistical data in all formats, including born digital, for permanent public access" (http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/digidocs). Spiers dioceses this as a crucial issue, and single that is often overlooked by means of the state agencies producing the information. "Whenever users call us looking for historical information about state rule I wonder what they will be able find when they start researching the issues of today--50 years from now."